Experiences Job Shadowing Surgery

[HopefulOP]

Tomorrow morning I'll be scrubbing in for a surgery packed day at my local hospital and I was just wondering what experiences other people on here have had with surgery. Surgery, I feel, is such a shock seeing for the first time.

My first time job shadowing surgery was my Sophomore year of high school and the first surgery of that day was a total hip replacement. The first cut was something no anatomy book had prepared me for. Fat was such a bizarre substance and I saw a living person's exposed bone just a few feet from my face. I loved what I was seeing from medical curiosity, but nonetheless, I had to be escorted out five minutes in as the anesthesiologist noticed I was about to go down. I returned half an hour later and saw a lot of really interesting surgeries and had no more problems with it but I was just wondering what everyone else's experiences were. The surgeon and I were sitting on a couch during one of his very short breaks and he said that he actually passed out himself during his very first surgery.

Also, any advice to staying conscious? I think it's a smell thing too, I got severe tunnel vision and lost my hearing once just while standing in an OR. Weird.


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[IlyaR]

I think it's one of those things that you just get used to honestly. Once the initial novelty wears off you should be fine


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[MilaKunisDoe]

I had a similar experience to yours, except I never felt like fainting. I just couldn't eat for the rest of the day. Soooooo much blood

 

[Nucleophile1]

Make sure that you eat before you go into the OR. The first time I was in the OR, I was so excited for my first shadowing experience that I threw my lunch away and rushed to the hospital (it was a situation where he said he would email when he was about to do an interesting surgery and he gave me about a half hour notice) and I only had coffee for breakfast. The surgery lasted well into the afternoon and I started feeling pretty weird towards the end of the surgery due to not eating haha. Another tip is don't lock your legs when you are standing.

If there are multiple surgeries, I would bring a snack to eat in between surgeries. If they are back-to-back, you may not have much time to eat lunch.

I don't know what to tell you about the smell though. I haven't been bothered by that. You will get used to it though. If you find that the smell is bothering you, try focusing on something else or go talk to someone about what is currently going on in the procedure. Befriending the anesthesiologist is the best way to get a great view and he or she will likely be more than willing to talk to you.

 

[HopefulOP]

I had a pretty action packed day today. I had roughly 9 straight hours of back to back surgery. I almost passed out during the first surgery but after some juice I was fine for the rest of the day. This is the last time I wear my dress shoes for surgery though. My feet were dying! I befriended two surgeons and have their personal cells so I'll probably be back in very soon! Everyone there was really friendly and they walked me through every surgery to a point where I could know exactly what was going on. It's amazing how much can be done laparoscopically. I felt like I was watching a video game more than a surgery. General surgery wasn't nearly as bloody as orthopedic. Orthopedic felt pretty much like bloody mechanic work. I'm pretty sure they buy their tools from Home Depot.


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[SimpleNames]

If you all don't mind me asking: how were you able to shadow surgeons?
I've tried emailing/calling a few so far to no avail.

Any tips very appreciated.

 

[HopefulOP]

If you all don't mind me asking: how were you able to shadow surgeons?
I've tried emailing/calling a few so far to no avail.

Any tips very appreciated.

I feel like it is networking more than anything. I personally knew people who knew the surgeon and through this shadow, I met more people and got another surgeon's personal number. I also mentioned to the surgeon I followed that I was interested in emergency medicine and he gave me a name and said to tell them he sent me. The more people that know you and your work ethic, the more opportunities and support you'll get.

I also have had a lot of luck with just contacting hospitals for shadows. The receptionists are usually happy to get you set up with a shadow or they will tell you who you need to contact. Also keep in mind that everyone seems to want to be a doctor so you need to try to set yourself apart from everyone else that is constantly begging to stand out. Volunteering at a hospital is probably a great place to start. Just keep trying though, persistence is key.

 

[aalamruad]

Tomorrow morning I'll be scrubbing in for a surgery packed day at my local hospital and I was just wondering what experiences other people on here have had with surgery. Surgery, I feel, is such a shock seeing for the first time.

My first time job shadowing surgery was my Sophomore year of high school and the first surgery of that day was a total hip replacement. The first cut was something no anatomy book had prepared me for. Fat was such a bizarre substance and I saw a living person's exposed bone just a few feet from my face. I loved what I was seeing from medical curiosity, but nonetheless, I had to be escorted out five minutes in as the anesthesiologist noticed I was about to go down. I returned half an hour later and saw a lot of really interesting surgeries and had no more problems with it but I was just wondering what everyone else's experiences were. The surgeon and I were sitting on a couch during one of his very short breaks and he said that he actually passed out himself during his very first surgery.

Also, any advice to staying conscious? I think it's a smell thing too, I got severe tunnel vision and lost my hearing once just while standing in an OR. Weird.


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Feeling nauseated >>>>> feeling lightheaded and passing out, so make sure you have a full belly and you should be fine. The first time I saw an EM doc slicing up a guy's bloody and nasty diabetic ulcer, I started to pass out, and I ended up needing to lie down while a nurse brought be a juice box.. Not a proud moment haha, but I've made sure to eat a huge breakfast before shadowing him ever since and I haven't had any problems.

 

[caffeinemia]

LOL at OP's experience. It's a fairly common response -- essentially, you went vagal and crumped. As someone recommended above, stay hydrated and well fed. Hold on to the blue and feel like you're involved and not just watching. Hold on to retractors, a limb, whatever instead of just oggling and watching the blood run. This will take your mind off the gross factor and get you more involved in the task at hand and you'll soon forget it's a living breathing human being under the drapes.

 

[Crayola227]

I wouldn't focus on shadowing a surgeon

I don't think you'll get the sort of shadow experience to really gauge if medicine is right for you

go watch on youtube or a documentary straight up like 4 hours of surgery and tell me if you still think it's fascinating
if you do, then I think it's worth going to the trouble of trying to find a surgeon IRL to shadow
most pre-meds are trying to find surgeons cuz they think it's sexy, so they tend to be swamped

do shadowing where you watch a doctor interact with awake patients, because even if you go into surgery a huge part of your career getting there will be dealing with awake and sick and annoying people

hit up a psychiatrist or neurologist, they are easier to get in with, have more time to teach, and you'll learn more about illness and the paperwork docs do

 

[HopefulOP]

I wouldn't focus on shadowing a surgeon

I don't think you'll get the sort of shadow experience to really gauge if medicine is right for you

go watch on youtube or a documentary straight up like 4 hours of surgery and tell me if you still think it's fascinating
if you do, then I think it's worth going to the trouble of trying to find a surgeon IRL to shadow
most pre-meds are trying to find surgeons cuz they think it's sexy, so they tend to be swamped

do shadowing where you watch a doctor interact with awake patients, because even if you go into surgery a huge part of your career getting there will be dealing with awake and sick and annoying people

hit up a psychiatrist or neurologist, they are easier to get in with, have more time to teach, and you'll learn more about illness and the paperwork docs do

I agree with you about people over glamorizing surgery. I personally just do it because I find surgery fascinated and love watching it. I feel you learn anatomy in a way impossible through a book or even a cadaver.

My next shadow will probably be on the surgeon's office day so I can get a good feel of that, even though the surgeon kept telling me how "boring" those days were. I'm also going to try to get into my primary care physician to see how that is run. From all the doctors I've talked to, it sounds like my doctor has his office running like a well oiled machine. I also want to shadow an internist, pathologist(because apparently I look like one??", emergency, and neurologist just to name a few.


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[neusu]

That smell of the Bovie or drill forever etched in your olfactory cortex.

 

[caffeinemia]

That smell of the Bovie or drill forever etched in your olfactory cortex.

Makes me hungry.

 

[Benjerm]

Tomorrow morning I'll be scrubbing in for a surgery packed day at my local hospital and I was just wondering what experiences other people on here have had with surgery. Surgery, I feel, is such a shock seeing for the first time.

My first time job shadowing surgery was my Sophomore year of high school and the first surgery of that day was a total hip replacement. The first cut was something no anatomy book had prepared me for. Fat was such a bizarre substance and I saw a living person's exposed bone just a few feet from my face. I loved what I was seeing from medical curiosity, but nonetheless, I had to be escorted out five minutes in as the anesthesiologist noticed I was about to go down. I returned half an hour later and saw a lot of really interesting surgeries and had no more problems with it but I was just wondering what everyone else's experiences were. The surgeon and I were sitting on a couch during one of his very short breaks and he said that he actually passed out himself during his very first surgery.

Also, any advice to staying conscious? I think it's a smell thing too, I got severe tunnel vision and lost my hearing once just while standing in an OR. Weird.


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My first time shadowing surgery was in highschool. It was an open laparotomy for bowel surgery. No video can prepare you for watching surgery in real life. At first I was a bit shocked so I decided to watch on the video monitor but then the nice anethesiologist called me over and showed me their area of the OR and what they do.

 

[HopefulOP]

My first time shadowing surgery was in highschool. It was an open laparotomy for bowel surgery. No video can prepare you for watching surgery in real life. At first I was a bit shocked so I decided to watch on the video monitor but then the nice anethesiologist called me over and showed me their area of the OR and what they do.

Now that I'm used to it, I think I have the surgery bug haha. A couple of surgeons at the local hospital gave me their cell phone numbers and I called one SPECIFICALLY for OFFICE experience but then he mentioned a bunch of surgeries got added to his schedule tomorrow and I simply couldn't resist. Another 8 hour day of endoscopies and general surgery... I have shadowed a bunch and still have yet to do so outside of an OR